Being adopted by a foreign couple is a huge event in the life of a child. The latter can often feel that being uprooted from a familiar environment is like being abandoned for a second time.

For ISS, international adoption should be a last resort when no other possible solution can be found in the home country. Our philosophy is always to focus on the child’s best interests, whether this means supporting the adoptive parents through the process or informing them about current legislation in different countries.

Our organisation also views developing alternative solutions as important, such as a temporary home country placement in a host family, for example.

Our expertise in the field was also the basis for the Hague Convention of 1993 on adoption. This text, adopted by Switzerland in 2003, sets out an ethical code and series of standards and procedures for international child adoption.